Commonwealth v. Rhodes

**823 A jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree. In a motion for a new trial, the defendant argued that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to request a voluntary manslaughter jury instruction based on reasonable provocation stemming from the defendant's reaction to an injury to his *289 penis that the victim inflicted during a sexual encounter. The motion was denied. We conclude that the motion judge abused his discretion in determining that trial counsel's decision to not request a voluntary manslaughter instruction was a reasonable tactical choice.…